Stein Earns First Signature Win in Third Game as Head Coach
One week ago, there was a lot of buzz about Kentucky potentially upsetting No. 12 Alabama in Lexington. SEC Nation was in attendance and the game had the coveted 3:30 start on ABC, so there was plenty of hype around the game.
Kentucky led 17-13 at halftime in front of a raucous Kroger Field crowd. However, the Tide rallied to win big, 45-17. Will Stein’s first signature win would have to come another day.
That day turned out to be Saturday, as Stein’s Cats stunned No. 9 Texas A&M 31-21 at Kyle Field in College Station. Kentucky came into the game as a 16.5-point underdog but outplayed the Aggies in all three phases of the game on Saturday.
For Stein, the Kentucky native who grew up watching games at what was then known as Commonwealth Stadium, it was a signature win in just his third game as a head coach. For reference, Mark Stoops, who is Kentucky’s all-time winningest coach, didn’t get a win over a ranked team until his third season when the Cats beat No. 25 Missouri in 2015.
Saturday’s win was the first Top 10 road win for the Cats in almost two years. On Sept. 28, 2024, Kentucky went to Oxford and shocked Lane Kiffin and No. 6 Ole Miss 20-17 behind big efforts from Brock Vandagriff and Dane Key. Saturday’s win also snapped A&M’s 19-game home winning streak.
Stein joined a very small club with Saturday’s win. Kentucky first-year coaches are now 3-23 all-time against top 10 teams. The previous wins came when John Ray’s Cats beat No. 8 Ole Miss in 1969 and when Joker Phillips’ Cats topped No. 10 South Carolina in 2010. Both of those games were in Lexington, meaning Stein is the first first-year UK head coach to accomplish the feat on the road. Saturday’s victory was the seventh time Kentucky has beaten a Top 10 opponent in a true road game in program history.
For Stein, he wants this type of play from his team to be the rule rather than the exception.
“Yeah, it’s what I expect us to do. That’s how I expect us to play,” Stein said. “That is the physicality, that’s the toughness, that’s the competitiveness, that’s the grit that I expect us to play with every single Saturday. You have to be at your best every single week, and so that’s the expectation for us. And so all this does is drive home our points even more to our players, that what we do, how we play, how we practice is the way that you have to play to win at this level in this conference.”
After the game, Stein was asked if the win had sunk in yet.
“Not yet. I’m just really proud of the guys. I’m proud of this team,” Stein said. “I know it’s going to be a fun plane ride home, which I’m excited about for them.”
It took just three games for Stein to earn a signature victory as the Kentucky head coach. With the direction of the program, this figures to be the first of many of those kinds of wins for Stein’s Wildcats.
